Hell's Kitchen (Philippines)
Hell's Kitchen is the Philippine version of an American reality cooking competition with the same name. The series was aired on IBC and worldwide on Global IBC on March 10, 2014. It is hosted by celebrity chef Rob Pengson. It runs for 1 hour, as the tail-end afternoon program at 5:00pm to 6:00pm from March 10 to August 1, 2014 and regained as the weekday morning timeslot since April 20, 2015 from 10:30am to 11:30am. Overview The series is part of the ''Hell's Kitchen'' franchise and is based on a similar competition format in the United States entitled Hell's Kitchen. Format Hell's Kitchen is a reality television show that uses a progressive elimination format to narrow down a field of twelve to twenty aspiring chefs to a single winner over the course of one season. The Philippine version of Hell's Kitchen follows the format of the U,S, version. The show is produced at Hell's Kitchen, a modified warehouse in Diliman, Quezon City that includes the restaurant, dual kitchen facilities and a dormitory where the chefs reside while on the show. They are also given knife sets that they get to keep, regardless of their progress. At the start of each season, Rob Pengson breaks the chefs into two teams. Most often this is based on gender, with women on the red team and men on the blue team; each is given a chef's jacket with panels of that color on the shoulders. The chefs remain on these teams throughout most of the competition; Pengson may reassign a chef to the other team if the team numbers are uneven or if he feels the chef will perform better on the other team. When only five or six chefs remain, they are brought into a single common team wearing black-panelled jackets. From this point onward, they compete individually to be one of the final two. 'Challenges' Each episode typically includes a challenge and a dinner service, followed by the elimination of a chef. In challenges, the teams or individual chefs are tasked with a cooking challenge by Pengson. The type of challenges are varied, including ingredient preparation, meal preparation and taste tests. The first challenge of each season is a signature dish cook-off, giving the chefs an opportunity to show Pengson their cooking. Each season typically includes one or more challenges that allows teams to construct several dishes either for a banquet to be held the next dinner service or as part of designing their own menus. Other challenges typically include a "taste it, make it" task, where chefs must attempt to recreate a dish Pengson has prepared after tasting it only, and a taste-test challenge where chefs identify ingredients while blindfolded and wearing sound-blocking earcovers. Some challenges have been full breakfast or lunch services, where the team completing the service first is declared the winner. The winner of the challenge is determined by either a scoring system set for that challenge or by Pengson's and/or guest judges' opinions. The winning team or chef is typically rewarded with a recreational activity away from Hell's Kitchen and other potential prizes, while the losing team or chefs are forced to do a menial task, such as cleaning the kitchens, preparing a specific ingredient for the following dinner or having to prepare the food for both kitchens. Dinner service For dinner services, the chefs are expected to work their station (such as meat, fish, or garnish) on the kitchen line to prepare food in coordination with their teammates and to Pengson's high standards for quality and presentation. Dinner service is for about 100 guests (volunteers for the show), with each diner expecting to receive an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. The chefs are given menus and recipe books by Ramsay to study and memorize, which include some of Pengson's more difficult dishes including risotto and Beef Wellington. The chefs may spend several hours before each service preparing their ingredients. Menus may be customized for a specific dinner service, such as ethnic-themed dishes or plates that resulted from the earlier challenge. One service per season allows for the teams to develop their own menus, which are reviewed by Pengson for quality and presentation before the service. Dinner services may include additional challenges. A chef from each team may be asked to serve a table-side meal for their team, to wait and serve celebrities sitting at the kitchen's chef's table, or to act as a server for the evening, taking and fulfilling orders. After the chefs are on a single black team, Pengson will use one dinner service to ask each chef to run the pass to test their quality control, including deliberate mistakes made by the sous chefs or Pengson himself. During a service, Pengson demands that all orders for each course for a table go out together, and will send back entire orders if one item is improperly prepared, such as being over- or undercooked or not seasoned correctly. While the chefs are in two teams, Pengson is assisted by two trusted sous-chefs, each monitoring one of the kitchens, demanding the same standards and alerting Pengson to any issues. Pengson 's goal is to complete every dinner service, but exceptionally poor kitchen performance by one or both teams will cause him to close one (or both sides) of the kitchen early and send the team(s) back to the dorms. Pengson may also evict individual chefs from the kitchen based on repeated poor performances during a service, and on rare occasions, may eliminate a chef on the spot. 'Elimination' Once the dinner service is complete, Pengson determines which team is the losing team and informs them to come up with two chefs to be nominated for elimination. Occasionally, Pengson declares that both teams have lost, or requests a different number of chefs to be nominated for elimination. In some cases, Pengon has named both teams winners, but still requires both teams to nominate someone for elimination. This is a group consensus, but Pengson may occasionally name a chef "best of the worst" on their team and instruct them to choose the nominees. Pengson reassembles the teams in the dining hall and hears out the nominations from the losing team(s). Pengson may also nominate other chefs for elimination if he believes it appropriate. After giving these nominees the chance to defend themselves, Pengson selects one to hand over their jacket and "leave Hell's Kitchen." Pengson can overrule nominations if he wants, and can even eliminate a chef who has not been nominated, even a chef on a winning team. The eliminated chef is shown leaving the restaurant, providing some last thoughts on the experience. Pengson is shown going to his office and symbolically placing their jacket on a sharp hook below their picture in a row with the others. After the jacket is hung on the hook, the chef's picture ignites, signalling their departure. During this scene, there is a voiceover of Pengson explaining his reasons for eliminating the chef. If an eliminated chef has performed exceptionally well, Pengson may allow that chef to keep their jacket as a token of their success up to that point, if he sees fit. Chefs may be eliminated from the competition due to medical reasons, both voluntarily and involuntarily. Chefs that violate the competition's rules may be immediately eliminated. Chefs may also exit the competition voluntarily for any other reason; though this is not encouraged, their wishes are ultimately granted. 'Final service' In the finale, the two remaining chefs are each given the opportunity to develop their own menu and lead a brigade of former competitors through a full dinner service on their own. In the first five seasons, this included the opportunity to decorate half of the Hell's Kitchen restaurant to their liking. Prior to the dinner service, the two chefs compete in a tasting contest, and the winner will earn the advantage of picking their brigade of chefs first. Pengson will ensure that all menu items meet his standards for high cuisine prior to service, and he and his sous chefs will oversee the service to make sure that his high quality standards are retained, but does not otherwise get involved, allowing the two remaining chefs to demonstrate their ability to run the line. Pengson uses his own observations and those from the diners and other sources to decide who is the winning chef. He has two doors in his office leading out to the balcony above the Hell's Kitchen seating area. Each chef stands at a door and Ramsay tells them to both turn their handles at the same time. After a commercial break, only the door of the winning chef is unlocked allowing the winner to walk through and be greeted by the crowd below. The winning chef receives two prizes including the opportunity to work as the head chef or executive chef at a restaurant of Pengson's choosing, as well as a cash prize of P250,000. In a similar manner to the voiceover at each elimination, Pengson has a voiceover to explain his reasons for choosing that chef as the winner. 'Broadcasting' It is set to taped in season one began from January 2 to 30, 2014, season two was taped from February 2 to 26, 2014, season three was taped from March 1 to March 26, 2014, season four was taped from March 29 to April 27, 2014, season five was taped from April 29 to May 27, 2014, season six was taped from May 29 to June 27, 2014, and season seven was taped from June 29 to July 28, 2014. Like its international counterparts, the show is broadcast as a pre-program for the Kapinoy Primetime block for airing 1 hour per episode from Monday to Friday. Season eight was taped from February 19 to March 20, 2015, season nine was taped from April 4 to May 3, 2015, and season ten was taped from May 5 to June 1, 2015. A new season is scheduled to be aired on IBC's Have a Tanghali noontime block since April 20, 2015. Season eleven from May 30 to June 28, 2016, season twelve was taped from July 12 to August 10, 2016, season thirteen was taped from August 19, 2016 to September 11, 2016. Cast 'Head Chef' * Rob Pengson 'Sous Chefs' Blue Team * Gene Gonzalez (season 1–10) * Fernando Aracama (season 11–present) Red Team * Cristeta Comerford (season 1–2) * Sunshine Pengson (season 3–7) * Heny Sison (season 8–present) 'Maître d'hôtel' * JP Anglo Production 'Setting' Hell's Kitchen restaurant set was housed and located at Diliman, Quezon City. The soundstage is open for audience members when taping is taking place and the studio sits. Originally the studio tooled for the production of Hell's Kitchen. The dining room area was the location, and living quarters for the contestants were built behind the restaurant. Seasons See also * ‘Hell's Kitchen’ – Teaser * 'Hell's Kitchen' Premieres March 10 on IBC-13 * List of programs broadcast by Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation * Hell's Kitchen References External links * [http://hellskitchen.ibc.com.ph/ Hell's Kitchen Official website] * [http://www.facebook.com/HellsKitchenPH Hell's Kitchen] on Facebook * [http://www.twitter.com/HellsKitchenPHL Hell's Kitchen] on Twitter Category:IBC shows Category:Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation Category:Hell's Kitchen (TV series) Category:Philippine television series Category:Philippine reality television series Category:2014 Philippine television series debuts Category:Philippine television series based on American television series